Howard Prairie Resort has its own community of people that come here every year for the summer. Since I am a newbie to fulltime Rving, meeting RV people has been a very rewarding experience. In the next few weeks, I am going to feature some of Howard Prairie residents and give you the opportunity to get to know them too.

Grandma Connie

She quietly sits in her recliner. Her hands moving back and forth, as the knitting needles softly click together, knit one, purl one. She is known by the locals as Connie or Jen’s mom. The most loving name she has been given by all is Grandma Connie.

Grandma Connie resides at Howard Prairie Resort in one of the camps schooners. In her living room, she has her chair, a couple of tables, lamps, piles of catalogs and knitting books, all surrounded by yarn. Connie is the resident knitter of fine socks, sweaters and her famous bears.

We visited her one evening to thank her for the socks she had knit for us. This is one of her special projects – knitting socks for the Howard Prairie crew and their families. Connie doesn’t need to know you to knit socks. Her daughter, Jen, the Resort’s restaurant manager, checks out people’s shoe size and reports back to Connie on how small or big to knit the socks. If one is lucky enough to get a second pair, they get to choose the color!

Connie told us she knits about 220 projects a year. She’s a little behind this year due to an injury to her right shoulder and arm in April, but has managed to complete about 50 projects so far this summer. We noticed she had as many as four projects going at once! She may just out due her highest knitting count yet.

This last Mother’s Day, Jen gave her mom a tent as a gift. Connie was delighted. She needed some place to store the boxes of yarn she has purchased. (I witnessed the many, many, many boxes of yarn that was carried to storage.) Now her yarn is protected from the elements and, hopefully, the critters too.

What drives this lady beside her love to knit? As she explained, she feels that God gave her a talent and she had better put it to good use. Connie and Jen keep their eyes peeled for anyone in need of a hat or sweater. Her eyes light up when she tells how others have delighted in their “anonymous” gift of a sweater or hat for a cold winter’s day.

Oh, and if you have a new grandbaby – well, that child will be styling before it gets out of their crib because Connie can’t resist knitting he/she a sweater, booties and cap. Connie also donates her famous bears to fundraisers for the local school during Christmas.

This incredible woman is in her 70’s, loves living by the lake and knits ‘till her hearts content! And then, she knits some more.